President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign is beginning to encompass all forms of thought and expression, even moderate ones, not approved by the ruling party.
By Peter Ford, Staff Writer OCTOBER 18, 2014
Peter Ford/The Christian Science MonitorView Caption
PICUN, CHINA — When she got off school last Thursday, Huang Qiufeng, the high spirited 12-year old daughter of migrant workers, dropped by the local library in this scruffy village on the outskirts of Beijing, as she does from time to time.
She found it closed, replaced by a convenience store. The brightly painted letters on the wall spelling out “BOOK” were obscured by shelves full of instant noodles.
“The people here were very nice and I really liked the library,” Qiufeng said. “But now it’s gone.”
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And so had ten other children’s libraries across China run by Li Ren, an educational charity. The libraries are among the victims of a sweeping orthodoxy laid down by President Xi Jinping, who continues to consolidate his power. While crackdowns on budding expression here come and go, the new variant is spreading its net more widely, ensnaring even prominent moderate voices.
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In recent weeks and months, scholars have seen their books banned after they voiced sympathy for pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong; artists with independent ideas have been silenced; lawyers representing political prisoners have been locked up; and human rights campaigners and civil society activists have been detained by the hundreds.
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